Justice Alito orders Pennsylvania to separate late ballots from on time ballots

Unless Donald Trump throws in the towel it does not appear as if we will know who officially won the election for several weeks. With a few States still counting votes and with questions or reports of irregularities in others this promises to be a long drawn out process.

Pennsylvania is one of the States which is both still counting and in which there have been questions. Now it is being reported here that Supreme Court Justice Alito has ordered Pennsylvania to separate the ballots which were received late from the ballots which were cast on time. Here is more:

Pennsylvania counties must separate all ballots received by mail after polls closed on Election Day from the rest of the ballots, the Supreme Court ordered on Friday.

Justice Samuel Alito made the order on Friday evening, saying that all county boards of election must comply with guidance that requires them to keep ballots received after 8 p.m. on Tuesday “in a safe, secure and sealed container separate from other voted ballots.” If those ballots are counted, they must also be counted separately.

An application the court received earlier on Friday informed them that the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, the applicant in the case, and Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar could not verify that all boards were complying with the guidance.

Alito issued the order because he’s the justice for the region that includes Pennsylvania, according to The Washington Post, and he referred it to the whole court for a formal decision. In his order, Pennsylvania officials must respond by Saturday afternoon.

From what I understand this all comes down to a lawsuit which was filed by the Trump administration before the election, because the Supreme Court could not properly adjudicate the issue before the election it ordered the ballots separated until the case could be properly heard. Apparently it can not be confirmed if Pennsylvania is adhering to the initial order and so Justice Alito made this second order last night.

Personally I believe that if these ballots were not separated in the first place there is probably is going to be no way anybody can verify which ballots came in late and which ones were on time. I understand fighting to the bitter end but I do not see any way any of these lawsuits are going to reverse the results of the election.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium